As a random bit of trivia, this movie was sampled on Skinny Puppy's "Rabies" album (track #2, "Hexonxonx"), released in 1989.

"Be prepared to enter a world stranger than you've ever imagined..."

Well, there are two issues here.

The first is an underlying problem with poverty and poor education. Solving that one is, as you put it, a question of society deciding to spend money in the right places.

The other (bus vandalism) is merely a symptom, but can be dealt with as I described. It's important that vandalism and assault on that scale stops in the short term, regardless.

However, realistically, any plan to clean up the area is going to need a little from both columns, as nothing changes overnight.

It seems obvious, but perhaps it only happens because they know that they can get away with it.

If kids grow up in an environment where they aren't taught respect both for other people and for public property (at least to the extent where they aren't stranding & vandalizing buses), then the only thing that's going to motivate them is fear.

So, create a situation where they can be reasonably certain that they'll be caught (and that it will be a huge hassle for them), and they'll cut it out.

This is why they presumably aren't over at the police station throwing rocks.

Further, while cultures vary widely as to wedding customs, one of the key elements is the acknowledgment and celebration of the couple's union.

Even where weddings last for days, or where a palanquin *might* be the norm, if you make a wedding bigger or longer, the focus remains on the pair.

Here, you can see that she's dialed it up a bit with the cake, but it's all about *her*. Why not a bust of both of them, rather than just one large cake of her?

I can't help but feel that her Queen for a Day desire will play out in other negative ways in the years to come. Any relationship that isn't a true partnership won't be big on equity and/or respect.

Of course it's my opinion. However, pointing that out doesn't mean that it reflects reality any less.

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

Where's the line? If the bride wanted to be borne about in a palanquin, or wanted a cake entirely covered in gold leaf and semiprecious stones, would that then be considered too selfish and demanding? ...or would that just be a reasonable request for Her Special Day(tm)?

If it makes me provincial to think that wanting an effigy cake is unreasonable, so be it.

Beautiful work on the skull, but she didn't finish that rivet on the strap.

Ok, if deeper analysis is required, so be it.

I paste a couple of quotes from Innocent:

“It was something that she liked and if there was a way to make it happen, why not?” he said. “It was fun.”

“I love her, and I felt that if that was what she wanted, it was not a big deal to me,” he said.

The article also says:

Innocent said he was just trying to make his wife happy.

None of that language gives me the sense that there was any sort of genuine enthusiasm for the idea on his part. Quite the opposite. I think, if she had changed her mind, he would have been relieved.

Of *course* he is not going to badmouth her choice in the media. He'd have to be a real tool to go that route.

However, he's talking about the cake in the same way that most men would when graciously describing a lengthy ballroom dance class that they didn't want to attend, but took for their wives' sake.

Hence, I maintain my original opinion that he had a dubious look in the picture. I know I would.

Actually, I just wouldn't marry someone who was narcissistic enough to want a giant cake of herself in the first place. Any existing tradition of giant and/or effigy cakes doesn't change the fact that it's a remarkably self-focused gesture.

Maybe it's the angle, but he looks dubious to me.

...as I think most any sane man would be when being asked to carve into a giant effigy cake of the woman he just married.

Now you can have your wedding and reenact a Tibetan sky burial all at once!

While I don't think writing "fuck" on a check memo line does much to initiate social change, I don't buy the argument that one shouldn't in any way blame the clerk.

In many metro areas, the whole parking ticket system is deliberately designed to maximize revenue, and those who are part of making that machine run are as deserving of criticism as the person who wrote the ticket.

In Arlington, VA, cops seldom even write the tickets. There is a whole troop of people who drive around in county cars issuing tickets. Meters are often 15 minutes for a quarter, and many areas shift to no parking at various times and for various reasons.

It's even worse if you have to deal with the red light/speeding cam people in DC. The adjudication process is Kafka-esque, takes months and months to resolve, and frequently culminates in an encounter with a truly surly mouthbreathing clerk behind Plexiglas.

So, in short, if you're part of a system that deliberately inconveniences people for revenue, you deserve the f-bomb as well.

Unless I am eating at a restaurant, I get all of my meat from organic sources.

That said, if I were looking for some way to be less "selfish", I wouldn't start by limiting or eliminating the intake of foods that my body very well may need.

Science can't seem to reach a clear consensus as to the safety or efficacy of even low-carb diets, but some vegans and vegetarians will have you believe that, despite our canine teeth, humans are somehow automagically better off with no meat at all.

Some of the biggest nutters will do such things as feed their cats vegetarian cat food, even though the animal is obviously a tiny carnivore.

Granted, avoiding the hormones and antibiotics seen in much modern farming is likely a very good idea, but the problem is with modern practices in that regard, not with meat eating in general.

People who feel most passionately about this (to the point that they eschew all meat) would do better to involve themselves in lobbying or politics such that they could effect real change in the industry practices.

I think your wife is very wise. Abuse as entertainment is never healthy. As others have said on here, when abuse is directed at something lifelike, it takes you to a similar mental place as when it's directed against animals or humans.

I think I'd prefer the device that uses lasers to read traditional vinyl as if they were CDs.

I have found that this bar is tastiest when you take just a small piece at a time, and let it dissolve on your tongue. I don't think it was designed to be munched like a Snickers.

I've had this and it's delicious. Picked up 2 the other night, actually. http://inox.org/bacon.jpg

The thing is, I've found it tastes best if you just take a small piece at a time and let it dissolve on your tongue.